Saturday, June 30, 2018

Book Review: 'Immortal Revenge' by Mary Abshire

For Katie Dillinger, there’s nothing sweeter or more anticipated than revenge. She’d spent years learning how to defeat a vampire. Now it was time to put all that training to good use. But at what cost?

When her desire to avenge her fallen lover endangers the lives of those she holds most dear, Katie realizes it’s not just about her anymore. Killing Kyle’s murderers might give her some self-satisfaction, but where there’s one blood thirsty vampire looking to exploit humans, there’s bound to be more. Before long, she finds herself in the middle of a forgotten prophecy and thrust into a role she never wanted. Question is, can she be the leader the human race needs?

Katie has suffered one loss after another. You’d think that finding her boyfriend beheaded, on fire, and nailed to a cross in the front yard would be enough to break her down into a wailing pile of mush, but not this tough girl. She mourns as best as she can, but quickly re-gathers herself and begins formulating a plot of revenge. With the aid of some unusual and unexpected allies, she collects her weapons, devises a plan, and sets about avenging her vampire lover. And if friends and daggers aren’t enough, she has a secret weapon stashed in her purse that will help tip the scales in her favor. Even though Kyle gave her many gifts, this last part of him might just be what she needs to succeed. It’s certainly something her enemies don’t expect.

A friend of Kyle’s from many years past, Riker pledged to protect Katie should anything happen to his comrade. When he gets the call that his friend has been destroyed, he wastes no time fulfilling his promise. Problem is, Katie is willful, headstrong, and just plain won’t listen to reason or rationality. She’s a real pain in the ass. And yet, Riker believes in her purpose, even if she doesn’t, and is determined to guide, coax, and protect her along the way. We really don’t get to know Riker very well. He’s big, broody, and bossy. It’s pretty comical to envision this hulking immortal ranting and raving to a much smaller human female who completely ignores and undermines his orders throughout the entire story. Still, I can’t help but think there’s more to this guy than just stringy hair, big muscles, and a bad attitude. I wish the story had allowed for a more thorough character development with him.

In Immortal Revenge, Ms. Mary Abshire has penned an urban fantasy that is both interesting and entertaining. It wasn’t quite the page-turner I’d hoped, but it did keep my interest well enough and I was curious to see what the ending had in store. The killer for this story for me was the multiple editing errors. The first few I pretty much ignored, but as the story went on, I found them riddled throughout. The point-of-view violations were minimal and not really a distraction. The main errors I found were with incorrect word usage, missing words, and some that just didn’t make any sense. I don’t feel these were things that made the story unworthy of reading or a waste of time because I enjoyed it nevertheless. However, these are certainly things that some better editing could easily correct to take this story from okay to good. A bit of a romantic at heart, I was a little disappointed that there wasn’t any romance in this tale, but this was not a romance story so the fault lies in my own personal tastes, not the author’s writing.

Overall, I felt the story was certainly worth my time and I enjoyed getting to know the characters, even if only on a surface level.

If you like kick-butt, don’t mess with me, slice ‘em and dice ‘em heroines and broody, fang-toting, muscle-laden heroes, then you’ll likely find Immortal Revenge worth your time. Be sure to find a comfortable spot before you get started, though. This is a lengthy tale that takes a while to read.

Editor's note: This article was originally published at Long and Short Reviews. It has been republished with permission.Like what you read? Subscribe to the SFRB's free daily email notice so you can be up-to-date on our latest articles. Scroll up this page to the sign-up field on your right.